The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

Although Mao’s image had been used on stamps and currency in China as early as the
mid‐1940s, it was only during the Cultural Revolution that it was employed “as a
national rallying point”. 125
The exhibition also showed that, as Mao image‐mediums, badges and woven silk
pictures had an interesting history. During the Cultural Revolution, every Chinese
adult donned at least one Mao badge “as a sign of loyalty and devotion”. Indeed at
this time, wearing a Mao badge was “one of the few acceptable forms of adornment”,
with individuals experimenting with different badge sizes and shapes as well as new
ways of pinning them. Between 3.5 and 4.8 billion badges were produced in more than
20 000 different designs from a variety of materials, including ceramic, bamboo and
plated aluminium. Although the collection of Mao badges was frowned upon, a busy
and competitive market emerged around them, especially in new designs. This
portable and wearable image of the ‘Great Leader’, worn on the body as adornment
and sign, was incorporated into a process by which national selves were styled and
political identities projected. 126
During the Cultural Revolution, woven silk images of Mao were also made in large
numbers. Hundreds of thousands were produced by the “Jacquard control
mechanism”, a loom with mechanical features that enabled the detailed arrangement
of a large number of patterning elements, creating woven images that looked very life‐
like. The designs of these woven silk pictures were generally based on photographs
that depicted important events in Mao’s life. Usually framed, they adorned the walls
of private homes or were put on display in public meeting halls. They were also given
to individuals as awards for personal achievement at work in recognition of political
status. Sometimes they were also given as gifts to visiting “foreign friends”. 127 As with
Mao badges, the portability of these images took them into the domains of private
125 Mao: From Icon to Irony, exhibition text.
126 Mao: From Icon to Irony, exhibition text; see also Gao Yuan, Born Red: A Chronicle of the Cultural
Revolution (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1987, pp 150‐151 for a description of the workings
of such a market in Mao badges.
127 Mao: From Icon to Irony, exhibition text.
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